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Emancipatiou ! aufraiichisoment ! Reconstniction 

LEGISLATIVE RECORD 



THE .REPUBLICAN PARTY 



T^ 



, DURING AND SINCE THE WAR. 



UBLISHED BY THE UNION REPUBLiCAN CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEF, WASHINGTON, D. 0. 



A brief record of -what h?^s been done in 
Congress since the slaveholding Democracy 
begun their causeless rebellion is herewith 
presented. So much misrepresentation is 
made that an outline of measures submit- 
ted, and of the dates and votes on and 
by which they were adopted, could not be 
otherwise than serviceable to all. Every 
honest, fair-minded man will perceive at 
ouce the nature of the struggle. The record 
herewith offered cannot bo more filly illus- 
trated than by a quotation from a speech 
of Alexander 11. Stephens, of Georgia, Vice 
President of the so-called Confederacy, 
made at Savannah, Ga., March 31, 1868, 
for the purpose of announcing to the world 
the reasons held by the Somhern leaders 
for inaugurating their formidable revolu- 
tionary attempt. It was intended as a sol- 
emn argument for Southern opinion and 
for the full vindication of their Democritic 
action. As such it is a fitting contrast to 
Republican action. Jlr. Stephens declares 
of Mr. Jefferson that "the prevailing ideas 
entertained by him and most of the leading 
statesmen at the time of the formation of 
the old Constitution were, that the enslave- 
ment of the African was in violation of the 
laws of nature; that it was wrong in prin- 
ciple, socially, morally, and politically. 
* « •» * These ideas were funda- 
mentally wrong. * '■• * * Our 
new Goverameat (the Confederacy) is 
founded upon exactly the opposite ideas. 
Its foundations are laid, its corner-stone 
rests upon the great t ruth that the negro is not 
equal to the white man; that slavery, sub- 
ordination to the superior, is his natural 
and normal condition." 

To this declaration, with its accompany- 
ing horrors of terrible war, the starvation 
of thousands in rebel prisons, the filling of 
the land, North and South, with graves 
and mourning households, the terrible tax- 
ation superinduced by the cost of suppress- 
ing this Democratic and slaveholding 
rebellion, is presented what the Republican 



party has done in the vindication of its 
principles and in necf'ssary defence of the 
Republic against Democratic treason. 

THE THIIlTY-SKVENTn CONGRESS. 

Special session July 4, 1801, Senator 
Trumbull, reported from the Senate 
Judiciary Committee, July 20, 1801, 
a bill confiscating property used in 
aid of the rebellion. The Senator of- 
fered an additional section, cettiug free 
slaves employed by their masters in 
aid of armed cinsurrection. Many 
were employed to build military works, 
«r.:\ An exciting debate ensued. All 
11. c Democratic SenatoTS opposed it. 
Breckinridge, of Kentucky, who had been 
that party's candidate for President the 
year before against ]\Ir. Lincoln, denounced 
t'ao proposition as the beginning of a series 
of measures sure to Icid "to a general con- 
fiscation of all property and a loosinrj of all 
bondx.''^ Whsn the bill passed the Senate, 
July 23, every Democrat voted against, 
every Republican for. The bill passed the 
House of Representatives, aft-.r a similar 
debate, August 3, (every Democrat voiin^ 
"no,") and was signed by Mr. Lincoln 
and beeame law on the 6th of August, 1801. 

On the 25th day of February, 1863, at . 
the first regular ses.sion of the Thirty-Sev- 
enth Congress, an additional article of AV.ir, 
forbidding and punishing the return of fu- 
gitiives by either naval or military oflicers, 
passed the House. On the 10th of March 
it passed the Senate. On thu 10th ic was 
approved by the President. It was opposed 
by the Democrats in every stage of its pro- 
gress. 

Senator Wilson, (Reputilican,) on the 
4^h of December, 1801, introduced a reso- 
lution looking toward the emancipation of 
all slaves in the District of Columbia. On 
tho 24th of February, 1863, he offered a 
bill providing for this grand result. It 
passed the Senate, April 3. Every Repub- 
lican voted for, every Democrat against it. 



^■3i 



The owners were to be compensated out of 
the Treasury according to an award to be 
made by commissioners appointed for the 
purpose. It passed the IJouse on the 11th 
of April, and was signed by President Lin- 
coln, April IG, 1SG3. By this act three 
THOUSAKD persons were made free. 

On the Gih of March, 18G3, President 
Lincoln, by special message, recommended 
Congress to pass a joint resolution, offering 
on the part of tlie United States to co- 
operate with any ttate desiring to gradu- 
ally abolish slavery, giving to such State 
pecuniary aid in support of the action. 

On the 10th of March Mr. Koscoe Conk- 
ling (Republican) olfered a joint resolu- 
tion covering the ground suggested by Mr. 
Lincoln. After a stormy debate, in which 
all the Democrats opposed its passage, and 
the policy of emancipation it sustained, it 
passed the House on the Uth of March by 
a vote of 89 for, all Republican, and 31 
against, all Democrats. It passed the 
Senate after long debate, April 3, ali;,but 
one Democrat (Garrett Davis, Kentucky) 
voting against it. The President signed 
it April 10, 1SG3. 

On the 34lh of March, 1SG3, Mr. Arnold, 
(Republican,") of Illinois, introduced into 
the House a bill prohibiting slavery forever 
in any of the Territories of the United 
States. On the 8th day of May Mr. Love- 
joy, of Illinois, reported the measure from 
committee to the House. On the 13lh day 
of May it passed, 85 Republicans voting 
"aye" and 50 Democrats voting "no." 
It was taken up in the Senate on the 15th of 
May. On the 9th of June it v/as discussed, 
amended, and passed by a vote of 33 yeas 
to 10 nays, every Democrat present voting 
in the minority. It was passed by the 
House on the 17lh of June, approved by 
Mr. Lincoln, and thus made law, June 19, 
1863. By this act half of the area of the 
United States was secured forever to free- 
dom. 

Mr. Pomeroy, of Kansas, on the IGth ot 
July, 1861, introduced into the Senate a 
bill setting forth that, as slavery caused the 
rebellion, then forcing a life and death 
struffgle on the nation, therefore slavery 
shotUd be declared abolished in all 
States in arms against the Govern- 
ment. This was the first anti-slavery 
measure offered by the Republicans in Con- 
gress. It v.-as referred to the Judiciary 
Committee. Various propositions grew 
out of the discussion. The debate over 
them lasted from December, 18G1, to 
July, 1SG3. The delay waa wholly 
caused by Democratic opposition. Finally, 
a bill originally offered by Senatoi 
Clark, New Hampshire, passed the Sen- 
ate, June So. It v/tut to the House, was 
amended, again referred to a committee of 
conference, and finally passed the House 
July 11, 1863, by a vote of 83 RepubUcans 
to 43 Democrats. On the 13th the Senate 



passed it by a party vote of 37 Republicans 
to 13 Democrats. On the 17th of July it 
received the approval of Mr. Lincoln and 
became a law. 

This enactment provided that all slaves 
of persons aiding the rebellion coming 
within our lines, or deserted by their mas- 
ters and coming within our control, and 
all slaves found in places occupied by the 
rebel armies and captured by our troops, 
should be deemed captives of war, and be 
forever made free; also, that slaves should 
not be surrendered; that any person in the 
military or naval service so surrendering 
them should be punished. 

Prior to the inauguration of ]\Ir. Lincoln 
as President, March 4, 1861, the Govern- 
ment was controlled in the interests of 
slavery. The United States was at the 
lime the only civilized government refus- 
ing to recognize the national existence of 
the Republics of Liberia and Hayti, solely 
because the people thereof were persons of 
African descent. 

On the 4th of March, 1863, Senator 
Charles Sumner reported a bill for the 
establishment of diplomatic relations with 
the countries named. It passed the Sen- 
ate April 34, 1863 — all the Democrats voting 
"no." During their discussion, Demo- 
cratic Senators indulged in ridicule 
at the idea of seeing a man of color 
recognized in a diplomatic capacity. The 
bill passed the House June 3, 1863, and 
became a law by the approval of Mr. Lin- 
coln on the 5th of the same month. 

On the 9th of April, 1863, Senator 
Grimes, of Iowa, introduced a bill pro- 
viding that ten per cent, of the taxes col- 
lected from the colored residents of the 
District of Columbia should be set aside 
for the education of colored children 
in the District. It was stated that the 
amount of taxable property belonging to 
colored persons in the District was valued 
at §650,000. On this a tax of $36,000 was 
paid. Tlie school ten per cent, would be 
$3,600. It appeared that under the slave- 
holding municipal rule the taxes paid by 
colored persons icere vsed to educate widte 
children only. Until the 1st of June, 1868, 
when the Republicans elected the Mayor of 
Washington, the Democratic city authori- 
ties had in every way resisted the payment 
to the colored schools of the amount au- 
thorized by Congress to be so paid, and a 
large amount yet remains due the schoo] 
funds. 

On the 8th of May, Senator Wilson, 
(Rep.,) Massachusetta, ofiered an addi- 
tional section, providing for the abolitioa 
of all ordinances, laws, &c., which within 
tlie District made odious disctinctions 
against the colored people. The laws thus 
to be repealed were made under the sys- 
tem of slavery, and were very opi)ressive 
in their character. The bill, as amended, 
passed the Senate May 9, by a vote of 39 



Republicansto 7 Democrats. It passed the 
House on the 15th, aud became a law by 
Mr. Lincoln's approval May 17, 18G3. 

On the 23d of June, Mr. Lovejoy, of Illi- 
n(>ir., olfcred a bill in the House for the es- 
tablishment of a Board of Trustees to take 
charge of the colored schools of the Dis- 
trict, and to whom the prorata of taxes 
was to be paid. The object was to ensure 
the establishment of the schools, as the 
Democratic city government refused to put 
them in operation. This bill became a 
law, against the opposition of all the Dem- 
ocrats in Congress, on the 11th of Julv, 
1S02. 

Under Democratic misrule the American 
flag was openly used to cover the infamous 
African slave trade — a traffic so inhuman 
that the framcrs of the Coustitution inserted 
a provision for its early cessation. They 
thus expressed their abhorrence of a traffic 
at a time v/hen its practice was recognized 
by all commercial nations. As soon as the 
rtepublicuus obtained power they set at 
work to enforce treaties made for its sup- 
jjrcsdon. 

On the 12th of June, 1862, Senator Sum- 
ner reported a bill for that purpose. It 
provided for judges and arbitrators to be 
appointed at points suitable for making de- 
cisions with relation to vessels captured as 
slavers. The only speech made in the 
Senate against it was by i\rr. Sanlsbury, of 
Delaware — a Democrat. Four Democrats 
voted "nay." The bill passed the House 
on the 7ch of July, and was approved by 
Mr. Lincoln on the 11th of July, 18G2. 

An additional bill was passed by both 
houses and became a law on the 17lh of 
July, 18G3. 

Mr. Lincoln enforced the law of nations 
with regard to this traffic bj- the trial as a 
pirate of one Gordon, captured while engag- 
ed in the African slave trade. This was in 
marked contrast to the action of Demo- 
cratic Executives. A promineut Southern 
Democrat, one Captain Lamar, of Savan- 
nah, Ga., openly violated the laws, and, in 
1859 or ISOO, lauded a c:irgo of native Afri- 
cans on the coast of Georgia, who were 
immediately r^old as slaves. Lamar is re- 
cognized as a leading Democrat, and, of 
course, was an active rebel. 

On the 12th of July, 18C2, Senator Wil- 
son, as chairman of Committee on Mili- 
tary Affairs, reported to the Senate a 
bill for the organi.zation of the jvilitia, 
and to suppress insurrection. Under its 
provisions the President was to be au- 
thorized to receive colored men into 
military service, Ibr the purpose of con- 
structing intrenchments, or other labor, or 
any military service for which they might 
be found competent. When so enrolled, 
the man, his mother, wife, and children 
were to be forever declared free. The de- 
bate over the hWl was long and earnest. 
The Democrats fought it at every stage. 



The bill passed the {senate on the loth of 
July, by a vote of 23 yeas and 9 nays, all but 
one of the latter being Democrats. It pars- 
ed the IIouFc on the IGth, and became a 
law, by approval of Mr. Lincoln, on the 
17th of Ju'y, 1S62. 

_ The first authorized military organiza- 
tion of colored men was made under this 
law. Senator James H. Lane, of Kansas, 
acting as Commissioner of l(ecruitinL^ un- 
der authority of the War Dep-irt'ment., 
raised one regiment of colored men, mus- 
tered in as volunteer infantry. This or- 
ganization was begun on the" 4th of Au- 
gust. It fought the first engagement with 
rebels in which colored men served, Octo- 
ber 20, 18G2, nine weeks before the pro- 
clamation of emancipation was issued by 
Mr. Lincoln. This regiment was mustered 
out of service, November, 18G5. 

On the 22d day of September, 1SC2, Presi- 
dent Abraham Lincoln issued a proclama- 
tion, announcing that on the first day of 
January, 18G;J, he should issue another pro- 
clamation declaring free all persons held 
as slaves within such States aud districts 
as should be therein named. 

In accordance with the terms of this pre- 
fatory instrument, Abraham Lincoln, on 
the first day of January, 1SG3, did issue a 
proclamation of emancipation, dedarinfj 
nil slaves free forever within the States of 
Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, 
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North and 
South Carolina, and Virginia, excepting 
only certain designated portions of Louis- 
iana and Virginia occupied by our troops, 
and in which the slaves had become prac- 
tically free. By this act over three millions 
of persons were from chattels made men and 
women in the eye of the law. The same 
proclamation also authorized the enlist- 
ment of colored men into the army and 
navy. 

On the 17th of February, 1803, Senator 
Wilson introduced a bill to incorporate an 
institution for the education of colored 
youths, to be located in the District of Co- 
lumbia. Even this measure met with great 
opposition from the Democrats, one of 
them declaring he could not "see any good 
reason why the Government ot the United 
Stales should enter upon the scheme of 
educating negroes." The bill passed the 
Senate, February 27, by a vote of 27 ayes 
to 9 noes, the latter being all Democrats. 
It passed the House on the 2d of March, 
and was approved next day by Mr. Lin- 
coln. 

In the second session of the Thirty-Eighth 
Congress, February 10, 18G4, a bill euroll- 
ing all able-bodied persons for military 
purposes was amended by striking out one 
of its sections and inserting in substance 
" that all able-bodied male persons of Afri- 
can descent between the a^es of twenty 
and forty-five, whether citizens or not, 
shall be enrolled and m.idea pirtof the ua- 



tional forces ; and, vlien cnrolle^l and \ 
drafted into the service, his master sTiall be j 
entitled to receive three hundred dollars, I 
and the drafted man shall be free." It was 
modified so as to provide only fi)r pa3'ment 
to loj'al masters, and afterwards by re- 
ducing the bounty paid to one hundred 
dollars. Afterwards the Thirly-ISinth Con- 
gress suspended the payment of all sack 
bounties, January 14, 18G7. The vote 
stood ia the House 107 Republicans to 30 
Democrats. The enrolment bill as passed 
made all colored men liable to draft, and, 
if a slave at the time, made himself and 
famil}^ free. 

A movement for the appropriiition of 
money to compensate the border States for 
the emancipation of their slaves was be- 
gun by Senator Wilson, March 7, 1SG3. 
Several propositions followed, and a long 
discussion ensued, terminating in the Sen- 
ate by the passage of a bill granting ten 
million dollars as compensation to Mis- 
souri for such emancipation, February 13, 
18G3. The bill was lost by the dilatory 
motion of the Democrats iu the House at 
the close of the session. 

ilon. James M. Aihley, (Rep.,) of Ohio, 
introduced into the Thirty-Eighth Con- 
gress, December M, 1803, au amendment 
to the Constitution of the United States, 
declaring slavery forever abolished. It was 
referred lo the Judiciary Commiitee, and 
it was favorably reported to the House. 

Senator Henderson, of Missouri, on the 
11th of January, 1804, introduced a simi- 
lar proposition. It was referred to the 
Senate Judiciary Committee. This is the 
amendment finally adopted, and now 
linowu as Article Fourteen of the Constitu- 
lion. 

Amendments and substitutes were offered 
by Mr. fc^umuer and other Senators. The 
discussioa continued; Democratic Sena- 
tors rebisting iis passage at every stage, 
from the date of introduction until the 8th 
of April, 1SG4. The vote stood C8 ayes to 
G noes, only one Democrat (Senator Nes- 
mitb, uf Oregon,) voting in the aCirmative. 

Debute ou the anienumcnt begun in the 
House on the olst of May, 1804, and it was 
rejected, then reconsidered on the 5th of 
December following, and finally passed the 
House, iiUer au exciting debate ou Tues- 
day, January 27, 18G5, by a vote of 119 
ye.iH lo ij? nays, the latter being all Demo- 
KiMis. 'i'hree Democrats only voted foji' 
I his b-.neficial act. The amendment, as 
liually incorporated into the Consliluliou 
as ariicle I'ourteen, is as follows: 

Skc 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servt- 
lu'Jo, excci>t as a puuUhmcnt lor crlmo, wherool 
tlio i^arly ."^hill hive boon duly coiui-ted, shall 
c.\Ut wUhln tUo (Tnlted b:atcs, or any place sub- 
ject, to thtlr jurisd'ctlon 

Si:c. li. (Joiiirrors fhall have p^v/er to enforce 
this ar icle by appropriate Icgislatl jn. 

The infamous fni;itive slave act of 18.j0 
was early attacked by the li-.'publican parlj'. 



after slavery flung down the gauntlet by 
acts of treason. Senator Howe, of Wiscon- 
sin, introduced, December 20, the first 
proposition to repeal that odious act. It 
was detained iu committee and reporteol 
back adversely, February II, 1803. 

Mr. Wilmot, of Pennsylvania, Senator 
Wilson, of Mass., Thaddeus Stevens, of 
Peuna., and Mr. Julian, of Indiana, intro- 
duced propositions to repeal this law in the 
Thirty-Eighth Congress. On the 8th of 
February, 1SG4, Mr. Sumner introduced a 
bill to repeal the law named. It was re- 
ferred to a special committee. The House 
bills introduced bj' Messrs. Ashley, Ste- 
vens, and Julian were referred to the Ju- 
diciary Committee. jMr. Morris, (Republi- 
can,) of NewYork, on the Gth of June, re- 
ported a bill from the committee. It passed 
ou the 13th of June, 1804. The vote stoo^l 
— 83 yeas, and 57 nays. No Democr.it voted 
for the repeal. On the 23d of June the bill 
passed the Senate by a vote of 27 Republi- 
cans to 13 Democrats and Conservatives. 
It was approved by Mr. Lincoln June 28, 
1804. 

On the 11th of June, 18G4, a bill finally 
passed and became a law by which the pay, 
&c., of the colored soldier was made equal in 
all respects to that of the v/hite soldier. The 
inequalities hitherto existing were owing 
to the strenuous opposition of Democratsin 
Congress to every measure equalizing the 
pay and bounties. 

The attempt to pass a law organizing the 
Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Aban 
doned Lands, better known in current 
history as the "Freedmen's Bureau," be 
gun iu the Senate January 13, 1803, by Mr 
Wilson presenting a mcmorialfrom Massa- 
chusetts, praying the establishiuent of a 
bureau of emancipation. A bill for that 
purpose T/as introduced into the House by 
]Mr. Eliot, of Massachusetts, on the 19th of 
January. This passed the House on the 
24th of February. In tlio Senate it was re- 
ferred to Mr. Sumner's select committee ou 
slavery, by whom a substitute was reported 
on the 12th of April. It pas.-ed the Senate 
June 28, went to the House, was postponed 
till the next session, and passed early in 
1805. ^ 

Bills were introduced during the regular 
session of the Thirty-Seventh Congress by 
which the use of the District of Columbi i 
jail as a place of confinement for slaves, 
fugitive or otherwise, was forbidden. Presi- 
dent Lincoln, by Executive order dated 
January 25, 18G3, directed the suppression 
of the abuses complained of. 

On the 2d of July, 18G3, a bill declaring 
that no person's testimony shall be ex- 
cluded by any United States court, on 
account of their color or former condition, 
became law by approval of the President. 
It was bitterly opposed by the Democrats. 

The same law contained a provision pro- 
hibiting the coast-wiso interstate slave 



trade. The Democrats opposed this also. 

Before the war, colored men were for- 
bidden to contrnct for or carry United 
States mails. IMr. Snmner moved in the 
Senate, ]\Iarch 18, 18G3, to remove all such 
restriction?. The Democrats opposed it 
and voted ajjainst the measure. It finally 
passed, offer hitter opposition, in 18G4. 

Through the exertions of Mr. Sumner, a 
t)ill prohibitin.i distinctions on account of 
r-ice or color in the public conveyances of 
the District was passed, after considerable 
Democratic opposition, and became law on 
thPiSlstof June, 1863. 

Another of the series of measures ren- 
dered necessary by the attitude of the 
Southern Democracy toward the loyal peo- 
ple, black and white, in their midst was 
proposed liy Senator Wilson. It provided ' 
for the disbandment of the so-called State 
militia orsranized under the governments 
instituted by Mr. Johnson's plan of restora- 
tion. This armed force was used chiefly 
to coerce the colored people, and enforce 
laws which practically made them serfs or 
slaves of society. 

In the latter portion of the second session 
of the Thirty-Ninth Congress, Mr. Kasson, 
of Iowa, introduced and carried through 
two measures intended to make effective 
the anti slavery amendment, and to 
prevent the evasion of the civil rights law. 
In the first instance, a system of appren- 
ticeship for colored children had grown up 
in former slave States, by which they were 
virtually made slaves again. Thousands of 
co'ored children, in Maryland and Ken- 
tucky especially, were thus illegally bound 
to servitude. In other cases the so-called 
Southern State Legislatures, restored under 
7»Ir. .Johnson's policy, had provided nu- 
merous oiTences, the penalty of which was 
public sale for the offender. Sales 
were made of colored paupers, so-called, 
and by the s}-.stem inaugurated purposely 
made vagrants, in order to sell in the man- 
ner alluded to. Thece same Legislatures 
had passed laws by which whipping and 
similar punishments were to be inflicted on 
negroes. These were all prohibited under 
heavy penalties. In the discussion the 
Democrats opposed both measures on the 
ground that they interfered with the "re- 
served rights" of tbe States. They vot;ed 
against them 'on the same ground. Their 
idea of States rights is the right to wliip, 
brand, oppress, and enslave the poor. The 
Kepublican policy is that of protection to 
.■ill in tbe degree rendered necessary by 
local tyranny and prejudices, as embodied 
in laws or working through unjust and op- 
pressive customs. 

Mr. Sidney Clarke, of Kansas, also in- 
troduced and carried a resolution in the 
Thirty-Ninth Congress, and Senator Wil- 
son introduced and carried in the first ses- 
sion of the Fortieth Congress, a bill abolish- 
ing the systems of peonage and Indian 



slavery existing in the Territory of New 
Mexico. After it was seen that the local 
aut orities failed to enforce i!s provi- 
sions, a resolution requiring General Sher. 
man, as military commander of the Indian 
country, to see that the law was carried 
out. was passed at the close of the second 
session of the Fortieth Congress, and by 
this act the last vestige of slavery, as an 
organized system, was swept from the 
United States. 

Such were the leading anti-slavery mea- 
sures of the Tbirty-Seventh and Thirty- 
Eighth Congresses— those of the war, and in 
the Thirty-Ninth, which assembled at the 
close. Besides these legislative acts, how- 
ever, and ]\Ir. Lincoln's noble proclama- 
tion of emancipation, other acts were being 
performed under the lead of the great Re- 
publican movement. Maryland, M'.ssouri, 
Virginia, and West Virginia abolished 
slavery in their borders. Illinois and other 
Northern States repealed their black laws, 
discriminating against a colored man's 
civil rights, enacted by the Democracy 
when in power. The Attorney General 
officially proclaimed the colored man to be a 
citizen, and the Supreme Court of the 
United States admitted him to practice 
therein. 

The debates on the reconstruction of the 
rebel States begun in the Thirty-Seventh 
Congress, by the introduction of a bill to 
reorffanize them as Territories, December 
2G, i861. It continued through the Thirty- 
Eighth Congress until the close of field 
operations, but no bill became law. One, 
framed by the late Henry Winter Davis, 
passed, but failed to receive Mr. Lincoln's 
approval. Congress therein made the first 
record of its right to decide this question. 
The war proceeded to its close. Lee sur- 
rendered the rebel armies to our great sol- 
dier. General U. S. Grant. The'bullet of 
of a Democratic assassin, John Wilkes 
Booth, took the life of our great President, 
Abraham Lincoln, and the Vice Presi- 
dent, Andrew Johnson, constitutiou'iUy 
assumed tbe duties of the office. The 
Thirty-Ninth Congress did not meet until 
the usual date in December, ISG-l. In the 
meanv^hile Mr. Johnson, by proclamation 
and orders, had undertaken tbe wcu-k of 
restoration. He appointed Provisional 
Governors, declared who should be voters, 
by which he excluded the emancipated mil- 
lions who were loyal, as well as a few thou 
sands of the leading rebels, and left the 
work of reorganizing civil governments to 
the great body of those who fought to de- 
stroy the General Government. In his 
message to Congress the President denied 
the authority of that branch of tlie Govern- 
ment to supervise his action. While ho 
thus proclaimed his action a finality, the 
State governments established under his 
plan were busily engaged through legisla- 
tion in endeavoring to reduce the ireed 



k 



4 



people to the condition of serfdom. They 
could not reestablish slavery for the benefit 
of a master; so they sought by unjust laws 
to make the colored man the vassal or 
slave of society. To this result the Ropub- 
licau m'^jority in Congress decidedly ob- 
jected. 

The first step taken by the Thirty- 
Nintl) Congress was the appointment of a 
joint Committee on Reconstruction, to 
Avbom tUQ President's messngo and all 
matters relating to the rebel States were to 
be referred. A very acrimonious discus- 
sion arose over the proposition originally 
offered by Thaddeus Stevens. The House 
ordered the committee, on the 4ih of De- 
cember, 18G5, by a vote of 133 to 33, the 
nays being, with a few exceptions, all 
Democratic. It passed the Senate on the 
iiih of December, by a vote of 33 to 11. 
To this committee wos referred the creden- 
tials of all persons claiming seats in Con- 
gress under the Johnson organizations. 
Various resolutions were passed on these 
points, and the debate was long and brl'.- 
liant. 

On the oth of January, ISGG, Mr. Trum- 
bull reported a bill "to protect all persons 
in their civil rights." It Avas referred and 
again reported on the 11th of the same 
month. It provided that there should be 
no discvimination in civil rights on ac- 
count of color, race, or previous condition 
of slavery; but the inhabitants of every 
race or color should have the same right to 
make and enforce contracts, &c., and 
should be subject to like 'punishment, 'paiiis, 
<ind2)enaUies, anclio none other, any law, 
statute, ordinance, rerjulation, or custom to 
the contrary notwithstanding. On the 2d 
of Februirv the Senate passed the bill by 
a vote of 33 to 12. There were four then 
known as Republican Senators v/ho voted 
with ihe Democrats. They have since 
identified themselves v/ith that party Af- 
ter a long debate the bill passed the House, 
amended and made more effsctive, on the 
13(h of March by a vote of 111 to 38. It 
was concurred in by the Senate, sent to 
'he President, and vetoed by him in an 
clahoraiC message opposing the benefi- 
cent policy of the Republican party, and 
passed over his veto in the Senate on the 
G;h of April, 18GG, by a vote of 33 tj 15, 
and in the House on the 9th by a vote of 
122 to 41. Of the latter all but two or 
luree were Democrats. 

On the 3th of January, 180)G, Mr. Trum- 
l)ud olFered a bill to enlarge the powers of 
llie Frecdmen's Bureau. This bill was the 
coi'olary of the civil rights act, and ena- 
bled the policy of that measure to become 
effective in the late rebel States. On the 
2.Hh of January the bill passed the benate 
by a vote of 37 yeis and 10 nays. On the 
Gth of February the House passed the bill 
by a vole of 130 yeas to 33 nays. The 



President vetoed the bill, and it passed 
both houses on the 19th and 20th of Feb- 
ruary, ISGO. 

An amended Freedmen's Bureau bill was 
reported to the House by Mr. Eliot, of Mas- 
sachusetts, on the 22d of May, 18GG. It 
continued the bureau for two years. It 
also made provisions for aiding the settle- 
meat of the public lands of the South, and 
in place of the aea islands, given to the 
freedmen by General Sherman in ISGo, and 
restored to the former rebel owners by 
President Johnson, directed that the Com- 
missioaer of the Bureau should provide 
other lauds for the occupants, to be paid for 
by them according to General Shermou's 
original order. Another section embodies 
the provisions of the civil rights bill, and 
directs the bureau officers to see them en- 
forced. The bill passed, was vetoed, and 
finally became into law July IG, 18G3, by a 
vote of 101 to 33 in the House, and in the 
Senate by a vote of 33 to 12. In both cases 
all the negatives vv^ere cist by Democrats. 

Thaddeus Stevens.of Pennsylvania, chair- 
man of the House Special Committee on Re- 
construction, reported, February 20, 1S6G, 
a resolution directing that no State lately in 
rebellion should be admitted to representa- 
tion until Congress shall have declared 
such State entitled to representation 
The purpose was clear, and it dis- 
tinctly announced the right of Congress to 
control the mode of restoration of the States 
which President Johnson declared in his 
North Caroliua proclamation "were with- 
out civil government." The resolution 
passed by a vote of 109 to 40. The debate 
in the Senate was very earnest. It passed 
on the 28th of February, by a vote of 29 to 
18. 

During the first session of the Thirt}-- 
Ninth Congress various propositions to 
amend the Constitution were made. They 
aimed at three points: 1. The more radi- 
cal statesmen proposed to provide for im- 
partial suffrage. 2 Another proposition 
looked to protection of civil rights and 
equality in representation, declaring that a 
State disfranchising pers3ns on account of 
race or color should not have those persons 
counted in the basis of representation. 3. 
The other object was the security of the 
national debt and of the payment of pen- 
sions, which the Southern Democrats, hav- 
ing become reinvigorated by Mr. Johnson's 
policy, were threatening openly to repudi- 
ate. Mr. Thaddeus Stevens and Mr. Sum- 
ner were the chief movers in thcso propo- 
sitions. On the 30th of April, 18Go, Mr. 
Stevens reported the resolutions, which, 
soQiewhat amended, have since become 
part of the National Constitution. The 
resolutions, after a vigorous debate, passed 
the House by a vote of 128 to 37, the latter 
being all Democrats. In the Senate, some- 
what changed the amendment passed on 
the 8lh of June by a vote of 33 to 11. It 



was agreed to by the House on the 13th by 
a vote of 120 to 33. As submitted to the 
States aud ratified by tlie Legislatures of 
twenty-eight, article fourteen of the Consti- 
tution reads as follows: . 

Article 14— Section 1. All porsons born or 
naturalized in tho United States, and Eiibjcct to 
the jurisdiction thereof, are citiz^onsof the United 
states and of tlio State wherein they reside. No 
State shall make or enforce any law whicli shall 
abridge tho privileges or imnnniitios cf citizens 
of tho Unltetl States; nor shall any State deprive 
any person cf Jil'a, liberty, cr property vrltnout 
due projpss of law, nor dooy to any peroon with- 
in Its jurtsiiictioa tuo equal protection of tho 
laws. 

Sec. 2. Koprcsontatives shall be apportioned 
among the several States according to their re 
spectlve numbers, counting tho whole number of 
persons in each State, excluding Indians not 
taxed. Bat when tho ria;ht to vote at any elec- 
tion for the cheice of electors for Presideut and 
Vice President of the United States, representa- 
tives in Congrefs, the executive and jadicial offi- 
cers ci a Siaie, or tho members of tUo Legisla- 
ture thereof, is denied to any of tho male inhabi- 
tants of sujh St:ate,beingtwenty-ono jearsof ago, 
and citizens cf the United States, or in any way 
abridged, exceot for participation in rebellion or 
otber crime, tho basis of representation therein 
shall be reduced in the proportion which the num- 
b3r of such male citizens shall bear to tho whole 
number of male citizens twentj-one years or age 
in such State. 

Sec. 3. No person shall be a Senator or Repre- 
sentative in Congress, or elector ot President and 
Vice President, or hold any offlco, civil or mili- 
tary, under the TJcited States, or under any 
State, who, having previously taken an oath, as 
a member of Congress or as an ofiQcer of tho 
United States, or as a nsember of any state 
Lecislature, or as an executive or judicial officer 
of any State, to support the Constitution of the 
United States, shall have engaged In insurrec- 
tion or rebellion against the same, or given aid or 
comfort to the enemies thereof. I5ut Congress 
may, by a vote of two-thirds of each house, re- 
move such disability. 

Sec. 4. The validity of the public debt of tte 
United states, authorized by law, including debts 
incurred for payment of pensions and boun- 
ties for services in suppressing insurrection or re- 
bellion, .<^hall not be questioned. But neither tho 
United States nor any State shall assume or pay 
any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insur- 
rection or rebellioQ against the Tinited States, 
or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any 
f lave; but all such debts, obligations, and claims 
shall bo held illegal ana roid. 

Seo. 5. 'Xhe Congres-s shall have power to en- 
force, by appropriate legislation, the provisions 
ci this article. 

In the Senate, December 4, 1865, Sena- 
tor Wade introduced a bill providing for 
universal adult male suffrage in the District 
of Colun^bia. In the House, on the 5th, 
.Judge Kclley, of Pennsylvania, offered a 
similar bill. It was reported by the Judi- 
ciary Committee to the House December 
18, 1805, and passed, after a long debate, 
on the 18th of January, 18GG, by a vote of 
IIG to 56— the negative vote including 
several Republicans. The bill did not pass 
the Senate until the second session, when, 
on the 11th of December, 1880, it received 
& vote of 33 yeas to 13 nays. The Presi- 
dent vetoed it, and Congress promptly 
passed it by a vote in the House of 113 
yeas to 33 nays, and in the Senate by 20 
yeas to 10 nays. 

Mr. Ashley, of Ohio, on the 24th of 
April, 1866, introduced a bill directing, 



among other acts, that within the Territo- 
ries of the United States there should be 
no denial of su"iTrage on account of race, 
color, or former condition. The bill 
passed by a vote of 79 to 43. In the Sen- 
ate, on the 10th of January, 1807, the 
same bill also passed by a vote of 24 to 7. 

During the first session tho State of 
Tennessee appeared and asked admission 
to represtntalion. A favoi'able report was 
made, through John A. Bingham, by :i 
majority of the Reconstruction Commit- 
tee, upon the 5th of May, 1866. A 
minority report was made, aud two Re- 
pub>:can members dissented because the 
State had not grauted loyal impartial suf- 
frage. No action was then taken. On 
the 20th of July, 1866, another resolution 
of admission was reported. The preambl ' 
sets forth the fact that the State ha 
acknowledged paramount allegiance, du 
to the Union aud had shown a proper spiri 
of obedience to the laws and Constitntior^i 
The resolution passed by a vote of 125 to 12. 
Several Democrats voted with the Repilo- 
licans. The Senate amended the resolution 
and it passed by avote of 28 to 4. Tennessee 
was admitted to representation on the 22d of 
July, 1866, and became the first Southern 
State restored to the Union upon the basis 
of impartial loyal suffrage. 

After the introduction of a number of 
propositions looking to the restoration of 
the rebel States upon the basis of equal 
rights, and long aud able discussions upon 
them, lasting through the first and second 
sessions of the Thirty- Ninth Congress, the 
first reconstruction act passed the United 
States Senate by a vote of 27 yeas to 10 
nays, February 17, 1867. The House re- 
fused to concur in the Senate bill. After 
some discussion the House amended the 
bill, and on the 20th of February it passed 
by a vote of 126 to 46— all the Democrats, 
with a few Republicans, voting no. On 
the same day the Senate concurred by a 
vote of 35 to 7. The President vetoed the 
bill, and it passed over the veto on the 2d 
of March, 1867. 

The first section divided the ten States 
lately in rebellion into five Military Dis- 
tricts. The second directs that a military 
officer, not less in rank than a Brigadier 
General, should be detailed to command. 
The third details the duties of saidoQicer, 
as being to suppress insurrection, disorder, 
and violence, aud to punish, or cause to be 
punished, all disturbers of the public peace 
and criminals. He was to do this by the 
local provisional tribunals, or by military 
commissions. The fourth required no un- 
necessary delay in trial, &c. The fifth 
provides for an election, authorizes impartial 
suffrage, limiting it only by loyalty. Tiie 
sixth declares that the governments existing 
in said States are provisional and subject to 
the paramount authority of tke United 
States. 



n 

I 






The Fortieth Congress assembled on the 
4th of JIarch, 18G7, immediately upon tlic 
adjournment of the Thirty-INiuth. The 
session did not last long, and the principal 
work was the passage of a supplementary 
reconstruction act, rendered necessary, it 
was evident, by omissions in the first, and 
the condition of the South. It related 
chiefly to tlie mode of registration, and the 
special feature was a requirement that a 
majority of the voters registered should 
vote aliirmatively for tlie constitutional 
conventions and on the instruments they 
should frame. Afterward the Democratic 
opposition took advantage of this provision, 
intended to prevent a minority ruling the 
new organizations, and in the case of Ala- 
bama, by staying away themselves and 
forcibly preventing the colored voters from 
iiolng to the polls, attempted to prevent the 
success of reconstruction. They partially 
succeeded there. This bill passed March 
7, 18G7. 

^ A session of Congress was held in the 
summer of 1867, rendered necessary by at- 
tempts of Mr. Johnson, through an 
opinion of the Attorney General, to nullify 
and render nugatory these acts. A brief 
supplementary act was passed, receiviug 
the support of all the Republicans and the 
opposition of all the Democrats. This mea- 
sure declared the true intent of the previous 
reconstruction act, provided for the re- 
mov:il of disloyal officers, and more clearly 
defined and enforced the duties of dis- 
trict commanders. The bill passed (July 19, 
1807,) the House over the veto by a vote 
of 108 to 25, and the Senate, on the same 
day, by a vote of 30 to G. 

At the second session of the Fortieth 
Congress, the reconstruction plans had pro- 
gressed so far that several of the late rebel 
States were read)'- for recognition. 

Onthelith of March, 1868, Congress 
amended the reconstruction acts so as to 
allow a majority of the votes cast to ratify 
the new constitutions. The Republicans 
all voted for this, the Democrats against it. 

On the 22d of June, 1863, an act was 
passed admitting the State of Arkansas to 
representation. This measure was adopted 
with a fundamental condition attached, 
that by the" ?tate no "denial or abridge- 
ment of the elective franchise, or of any 
other right, to any person by reason of 
race or color" should ever be made. The 
vole oa its passage over the veto was, in 
the House, 108 yeas (all Republicans) to 
27 nays (all Democrats;) in the Senate the 
vote stood — yeas 80, nays 7, the latter be- 
ing Democrats. 

On the Soth of June, 1803, after consid- 
erable debate and vigorous Democratic op- 
position, culminating in a Presidential 
veto, Congress passed a bill with the same 
comliiious as in the case of Arkansas, ad- 
mitting to rep;escntation the reconstructed 



States of Alabama, North Carolina, South 
Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, and Florida. 
The vote on final passage in the IIou--e 
stood — 107 Republicans /or, and 31 Demo- 
crats n^airifit; in the Senate, 35 to 8, the 
former Republicans all, and the latter 
Democrats. 

During the same session a bill prohibit- 
ing the counting of the E'iectoral College 
votes of the three States — Virginia, Missis- 
sippi, and Texas — still i.uripresented, wis 
passed against the strenuous opposition of 
the Democracy and of Mr. .lohnson. In 
his veto message, the latvr declared that 
the new governments recognized by Con- 
gress were revolutionary in character. 

So the issue stands. Congress has, un- 
der its reconstruction policy, reorganized 
and recognizsd eight out of eleven States, 
entirely unrepresented wh'-n armed rebel- 
lion closed, and then as President Johnson 
declared, "deprived of all civil govern- 
ment." The governments thus reorgan- 
ized by Congress in the exercise of its con- 
stitutional duty under section four of arti- 
cle four of the Federal Constitution, that 
"The United States shall guarantee to 
every State in this Union a republicaii 
form of government," are assailed by the 
platform of one of the great parties — the 
Democracy — as "unconstitutional, revolu- 
tionary, null and void" in character. 

These governments, thus opposed, estab- 
lish civil and political equaliiy for ail men; 
provide for the establishment of common 
schools, open, to all; for equality of taxa- 
tion; for the security of the homestead 
and of the poor man's labor by a lien ou 
property. They recognize freedom of the 
press, free discussion, and liberty of con- 
science. They maintain the i)aramount 
allegiance of a citizen to the Union; they 
recognize the sacred obligation incurred in 
the national debt, and they liave accepted 
fundamental conditions which forbid the 
future disfranchisemeu!, of men on account 
of color or race. 

The success of the Republican party by 
the electif)n of their Presidential nominees, 
General U. S. Grant and Honorable 
ScnuYLEU Colfax, will insure the success 
of the first beneficent policy. The prayer 
of the loyal millions — "Let us have peace" 
— will be an accomplished fact. The elec- 
tion of the Democra;ic candidates, Horatio 
Sei/?nour and Francis P. B'aii\ Jr.^ will 
insure the temporary triumph of oppression 
and the permanent inauguration of ajarchy 
and war. Choose ye, wnicii you will, 
on, PEOPLE OF Ameuica ! The wokk op 
TUE Republican party is before tou. 
The record is complete. Liberty its 
desire, equ.\lity its wish, protection 
to all for all rights its design, and 
amelioration and progress its sure 

RESULT. 



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